Strix Huhula Daudin, 1800 (Strigiformes, Strigidae), Black-Banded Owl, from the Savanna–Dry Forest Ecotone in Northeastern Brazil

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NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Check List 17 (4): 1089–1093 https://doi.org/10.15560/17.4.1089

First record of Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 (Strigiformes, Strigidae), Black-banded Owl, from the savanna–dry forest ecotone in northeastern Brazil

Leonardo Moura dos Santos Soares1, Wedson Medeiros Silva Souto2, Anderson Guzzi2, André Bastos da Silva2*

1 Department of Zoology, Paraense Emílio Goeldi Museum, Belém, Brazil • [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7442- 5739 2 Graduate Program in Development and Environmental, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, Brazil • WMSS: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7508-9175 • AG: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7206-7683 • ABS: andrebastos.bio@gmail. com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8414-6407 * Corresponding author

Abstract Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 is widely distributed species of owl in the Neotropical region. However, this species is considered rare in nature due to its dependence on forested habitat and low adaptive capacity to survive in anthropogenic environments. There are scattered records throughout Brazil. Here, we provide the first record of S. huhula in a savanna–dry forest ecotone in Piauí state. This expands the geographic distribution of S. huhula to northeastern Brazil.

Keywords Deforestation, Cerrado–Caatinga ecotone, geographic distribution, Neotropical birds

Academic editor: Oscar H. Marín Gómez | Received 31 March 2021 | Accepted 9 July 2021 | Published 27 July 2021

Citation: Soares LMS, Souto WMS, Guzzi A, Silva AB (2021) First record of Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 (Strigiformes, Strigidae), Black-banded Owl, from the savanna–dry forest ecotone in northeastern Brazil. Check List 17 (4): 1089–1093. https://doi.org/10.15560/17.4.1089

Introduction Strix huhula Daudin, 1800, Black-banded Owl, is a Castiglioni 2004; Motta-Junior and Braga 2012). This forest bird with a wide distribution in the Neotropi- owl species inhabits varied vegetation types throughout cal region. There are two recognized subspecies: S. h. its geographic range. Strix huhula is a strictly nocturnal huhula Daudin, 1800 found from eastern Colombia and species which usually nest in dead tree trunks. Its diet the Guianas to Amazonian Brazil and adjacent states as is essentially carnivorous, consisting mainly of beetles, well as in Maranhão and Piauí states (Holt et al. 1999), cockroaches, grasshoppers, and small vertebrates such and S. h. albomarginata Spix, 1824, which is restricted as rodents, reptiles, birds, and bats (Sick 1997; Holt et to the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and al. 1999). However, its natural history remains poorly northeastern Argentina (Holt et al. 1999). Although it known (Bodrati and Cockle 2013). has a wide geographic distribution, S. huhula is naturally The tropical forests of South America form ecotone rare and Brazilian records are scattered (Gonzaga and areas where the Amazon Forest, Neotropical savanna

© The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 1090 Check List 17 (4)

(hereafter Cerrado), and deciduous, thorny, dryland Discussion vegetation (Caatinga) intersect in north-central Brazil (Sousa et al. 2009). An extensive ecotone in the Parnaíba In northeastern Brazil, S. huhula had been recorded river basin features a distinctive climatic complexity that in the Amazon and Cerrado domains of Maranhão influences the distribution patterns of bird species (Gon- state (Paraense Emílio Goeldi Museum MPEG76945; çalves et al. 2017). In fact, this region harbors a large XC428572; Oren and Roma 2011), and in the Cerrado diversity of bird species (Reiser 1910; Hellmayr 1929; domain of in Piauí state (Reiser 1910). Additionally, Novaes 1992; Santos 2004, 2008; Guzzi et al. 2012; there are two unpublished records from Piauí (Wiki- Olmos and Albano 2012; Santos et al. 2012; Silveira and Aves 2021), one from Ribeiro Gonçalves town (Dourado Santos 2012; Araujo and Silva 2017; Soares et al. 2017). 2017) and another from Uruçuí town (Brito 2019). The However, there are no records of S. huhula in the eco- Uruçuí record is the closest to our new record (ca. 250 tonal areas of north-central Brazil. Thus, we present the km). There are also unpublished records of S. huhula first record of S. huhula from the savanna–dry forest from the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado domains in Bahia ecotone (hereafter Cerrado–Caatinga ecotone) in Piauí state (WikiAves 2021). state, northeastern Brazil. The Zé Ferreira community is dominated by small- scale farming that includes family-based agriculture and extensive livestock and by large companies produc- Methods ing soybean, Eucalyptus sp., and other monocultures. We recorded the S. huhula in the municipality of Jardim These anthropogenic pressures on the Babaçu forest are do Mulato in the mid-west region of Piauí state, north- increasing and may drive local extinction of sensitive eastern Brazil (Fig. 1). Here the vegetation type is pre- species. Unsurprisingly, the deforestation of tropical for- dominantly composed of palm Attalea speciosa Mart. ex ests is the primary cause of global biodiversity decline Spreng. (hereafter Babaçu palm forest), within the Cer- (Hoffmann et al. 2010; Dirzo et al. 2014), and defores- rado–Caatinga ecotone. The climate is tropical rainy tation and biodiversity loss is even more worrisome in monsoon, with an average annual temperature above 26 the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, where some bird species °C and an annual rainfall between 1,300 mm and 1,600 depend on forest environments and have a low tolerance mm (Alvares et al. 2013). Our sampling was opportunis- to anthropogenic pressures (Banks-Leite et al. 2014). tic. First, the lead author (LMSS) heard a suggestive call For the forest-dependent S. huhula (Araujo and Silva of S. huhula coming from a Babaçu palm remnant. The 2017), which is currently categorized as Least Concern following day, he recorded a call with a digital recorder (BirdLife International 2016), deforestation may poten- (Sony PMD010) coupled to a unidirectional microphone tially be found to alter shelter sites and nesting behavior. (Sennheiser ME66/K6) during an informal walk along Selective logging is common in the area we surveyed. the edge of a forest remnant. This recording was used as Our results show that new surveys are fundamental a playback, which allowed for confirmation of approx- to filling gaps and gaining a better understanding of the imately two individuals of the species. Our recordings distribution of S. huhula in ecotonal areas, especially in are archived on the Xeno-canto platform (https://www. the Cerrado and Caatinga, where seasonal water deficits xeno-canto.org/). can be extreme. The new record highlights the impor- tance of protecting Babaçu forests from deforestation in order to conserve remaining bird populations, includ- Results ing those of S. huhula, which we believe are locally at risk of extirpation. We emphasize the need for studies on Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 population dynamics of S. huhula to aid in conservation Figures 1, 2 actions of this species in the Parnaíba river basin. New records. BRAZIL – Piauí • Jardim do Mulato, Zé Ferreira community; 06°09′22″S, 042°40′09″W; 160 m alt.; 19.VII.2018; L.M.S. Soares obs.; sighting and vocal- Acknowledgements ization; 1 adult ♀, 1 adult ♂, XC487765, XC487768. We thank J. Evangelista and L. Gonzaga for logistical Identification. We identified S. huhula by a set of re- support in surveyed area, and NR Monteiro for her aid markably diagnostic features which include: length of in the translation of this manuscript. A.B. Silva thanks about 40 cm; body all black and finely barred with white; FAPEPI/CAPES for a Ph.D. student fellowship. We also bill and legs yellow; eye blackish brown. These charac- thank the reviewers and subject editor for the time and ters are clearly detailed by Erize et al. (2006), van Perlo effort in reviewing our manuscript. (2009), and Schulenberg et al. (2010). We also recorded a call low-pitched “hoo hoo hooo HOOOO”, which allowed us to compare it to information Erize et al. (2006) Authors’ Contributions and other sound recordings available on the Xeno-canto Formal analysis: LMSS. Investigation: LMSS. Visual- platform. ization: LMSS, ABS. Writing – original draft: LMSS, Soares et al. | First record of Strix huhula from the Cerrado–Caatinga ecotone 1091

Figure 1. Location of the first record of Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 from the savanna–dry forest (Cerrado–Caatinga) ecotone in Piauí state, northeastern Brazil. 1092 Check List 17 (4)

Figure 2. Babaçu palm forest, where two individuals of Strix huhula were recorded.

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